Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Amazon Fires Employees Over Data Leak As It Fights Seller Scams, Report Says (thehill.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the disciplinary-action dept.

After investigating claims that its employees are taking bribes to sell internal data to merchants to help them increase their sales on the site, Amazon has reportedly fired several employees involved in the scams. The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon let go of several workers in the U.S. and India who allegedly inappropriately accessed company data that disreputable merchants had misused. The Hill reports: Amazon is focusing its internal bribery investigation on India, a person familiar with the effort told the paper. Some employees in India and China working as customer support have said that their access to an internal database that allows them to find data about specific product performance or trending keywords has been dramatically limited. Amazon has also deleted thousand of suspect reviews, restricted sellers' access to customer data on its platform, and quashed some methods to force the site to bring up certain products higher in search results, the people told the Journal. "We have strict policies and a Code of Business Conduct & Ethics in place for our employees. We implement sophisticated systems to restrict and audit access to information," the company wrote. "We hold our employees to a high ethical standard and anyone in violation of our Code faces discipline, including termination and potential legal and criminal penalties."

"In addition, we have zero tolerance for abuse of our systems and if we find bad actors who have engaged in this behavior, we will take swift action against them, including terminating their selling accounts, deleting reviews, withholding funds, and taking legal action," Amazon added.

48 comments

  1. Amazon fires 4 people for scamming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    News for nerds, stuff that matters

    1. Re:Amazon fires 4 people for scamming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      more like Amazon fires four people for leveraging IT access to information to profit off customer data. Pretty sure that qualifies as IT news for nerds.

    2. Re:Amazon fires 4 people for scamming by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      This seems like a clear ground to fire someone.
      It isn't like they just fired someone for some mistake, or oversight. Like how Apple fired an Engineer because his daughter made a video showing the iPhone X before it was released.
      These guys were given access to the data to do their work. A company like Amazon needs some degree of trust that such data isn't mishandled. These people deliberately missused it. I am more surprised that these people are not in Jail.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  2. Good luck with that by Snotnose · · Score: 2

    You're trying to inject American values into Indian and Chinese cultures, both of which are wildly different from ours. I don't know about you, but when I get a code of conduct, mission statement, etc etc etc I pretty much MEGO and sign/initial at the x's. I can't imagine my Indian counterpart, living in a 3 wall house with 8 other people and a milk bottle as a toilet, is going to do anything different.

    1. Re: Good luck with that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And so they get fired which is as it should be.

    2. Re:Good luck with that by haruchai · · Score: 4, Informative

      Amazon doesn't hesitate to steal the ideas of its customers and undercut them

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    3. Re:Good luck with that by andymadigan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Studies have shown that corruption is a major impediment to economic growth. Both of these countries have experienced huge economic growth in the past 50 years, but they've realized that corruption is holding them back.

      China is fighting corruption in their civil service. India tried demonetizing their two largest currency notes to fight "dark money".

      What I'm saying is, it's not just Amazon trying to "inject" these western values. If your Indian counterpart wants to improve his living conditions he's going to have to do it honestly, or watch as one rich multinational after another pulls out of his country or implements police-state level controls to keep their employees in line.

      Corruption hurts these countries in other ways too, it diverts money from legitimate businesses and discourages entrepreneurship.

      --
      The right to protest the State is more sacred than the State.
    4. Re:Good luck with that by cheesybagel · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Exactly. The problem is those guys were caught selling the data Amazon uses to cut these online retailers who operate on their site off in the first place.

    5. Re: Good luck with that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's why they restricted access for the rest of the riff raff

    6. Re:Good luck with that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the issue was with India and US staff, not china, Chinese and indian staff have supposedly noticed the reduction in Access. So yes greed and corruption is a big problem in all 3.

    7. Re:Good luck with that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you read the story you will find some of them were Americans that were sacked. So it seems they are being highly successful in injecting American culture and values into china and India.

    8. Re:Good luck with that by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      It's that they don't have a trust based society like we do. We trust each other; they don't. We are finding out that Western values are not universal values, they are unique and special and likely only work for us. Our forcing them in others is the path to failure. What we call corruption is an aberration, in their societies it is the norm. The goal is not to fix corruption but to join it.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    9. Re: Good luck with that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where ae those studies? I could also say "studies have shown that wiping yourself after going to the toilet increases 15% risk of cancer", just to give it credibility even tho it's bs.

    10. Re: Good luck with that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Look at Tamany Hall and other political machines in the USA up to 1950, or Italy, or the history of the UK, etc. Those Western values seem to be relatively new, and were absolutely mainstream in all Western nations 250 years ago. Some of the first nations to try to stamp it out were in fact China and India, but that was hundreds of years ago, so more of a coincidence.

    11. Re: Good luck with that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exterminate shitty smelly parasites hindu-chimps. End of story.

    12. Re:Good luck with that by mapkinase · · Score: 1

      It is more useful to think of corruption without implying "government corruption". Corruption is affecting every single complex enough hierachic monolithic structure. It does not matter if it is a government or transnational corporation.

      --
      I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
    13. Re:Good luck with that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You say "Americans" when that can mean any race nowadays...
      It used to mean 'white people'. Sorry - 'evil, racist white people', fixed that for ya.

      How dare white people think they can simply live around their own kind!

    14. Re:Good luck with that by gtall · · Score: 1

      I tend to take the term "corruption" a bit more broadly. Corruption = cheating. Cheating isn't easy to qualify or quantify, but the term still has meaning. Cheating is screwing your co-worker out of something s/he wants out of spite or because it helps you. Cheating is companies willfully polluting the environment when they know they are doing it. Cheating is gerrymandering voting districts.

      And "the fish rots from the head"...to which I would add "cheating flows downhill within an organization."

    15. Re: Good luck with that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And so they get fired which is as it should be.

      Which is not enough. When people systematically take bribes (part of their culture, or the data they handle for low wages is worth lots), then you loose much more than the guy who got fired after three months. Especially if the next guy takes bribes in the same fashion.

      There are limits to how cheap wages can be, compared to the value of what they handle. You cannot really underpay a goldsmith - he will arrange his own pay then. If the response is a security guard, then you're suddenly paying for a guard too. And if the value of stealables is high enough for both of them . . .

    16. Re: Good luck with that by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

      Corrupt always float to the top, fighting corruption can only happen bottom up. It requires a culture hostile to it, generally born from religion.

    17. Re:Good luck with that by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Amazon doesn't hesitate to steal the ideas of its customers and undercut them

      You can't steal an idea any more than you can steal an mp3. If I copy your idea, we both have an idea, you don't lose yours.

      It must be nice to never have had anything actually stolen from you. That's the only possible way you could possibly misunderstand theft so completely.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    18. Re:Good luck with that by forkfail · · Score: 1

      It must be strange to never have come up with an idea worth stealing. That's the only possible way you could possibly misunderstand theft so completely.

      FTFY

      --
      Check your premises.
    19. Re:Good luck with that by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      You fixed nothing, kid. You don't even understand what these words mean, and as such, you can add nothing to this conversation.

      Copying an idea without permission ain't stealing it. It might be unscrupulous, but it still isn't theft. And trying to claim otherwise only makes you wrong, it doesn't change anything.

      When even the law is ahead of you, you know that your ideas are outdated.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    20. Re: Good luck with that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My cuture requires human canibalism. When I tried to eat my dead father, as is the custom of my people a black transgendered cop arrested me. Does this mean all black trasgendered cops are racist, or does it mean all black people are cultural imperialists?

      Lets spread inclusiveness by killing those that do not agree with my definition of inclusive.

      Bacteria and viral lives matter. Stop the bacterial germocide. Stop antibiatics, vaccinations, and public sanitation.

    21. Re: Good luck with that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but ... but ... religion is bad and deceives everyone and everyone should only accept Science!

    22. Re: Good luck with that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Recent studies have shown that 87% of people are more likely to believe stated facts when claimed to be backed up by both studies and statistics, even if no sources are given.

    23. Re:Good luck with that by forkfail · · Score: 1

      Let's parse your argument. This should be fun!

      You fixed nothing, kid. You don't even understand what these words mean, and as such, you can add nothing to this conversation.

      We open with an ad hominem.

      Copying an idea without permission ain't stealing it. It might be unscrupulous, but it still isn't theft.

      We now move on to restating the original claim, adding nothing to support that claim.

      And trying to claim otherwise only makes you wrong, it doesn't change anything.

      And now we add to this an unsupported claim of correctness, without supporting argument. "I'm right and you're wrong." That's some advanced logic and rhetoric, that is.

      When even the law is ahead of you, you know that your ideas are outdated.

      Finally. An attempt to support your position. Only - to make the claim that the laws of man are the standard by which ideas should be judged, one would have to prove that human law is always good and correct. Are you suggesting that this is the case? And - would you like to offer support to this claim?

      Eagerly awaiting your response!

      --
      Check your premises.
    24. Re:Good luck with that by nanospook · · Score: 2

      Actually we don't trust each other in the Western World, though I think I understand what you are saying that it's more likely we trust each other. But we have tons of oversight and "lesson's learned" laws and regulatuions in government and company culture. All because we don't trust people not to steal or do something unethical.

      --
      Have you fscked your local propeller head today?
    25. Re: Good luck with that by andymadigan · · Score: 1

      Actually, I didn't bother trying to find the studies, because I figured the more important point was that the governments of both countries seem to take the problem seriously enough to have carried out major public policy initiatives to fight corruption. The science matters less than what people do with it.

      --
      The right to protest the State is more sacred than the State.
  3. Entirely Amazon's fault by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Binning similar products into the same page was the stupidest idea they ever had. Counterfeits are a worse problem than ever before now that they're mixed in with legit items and confused customers post "FAKE" in the reviews page for the legit item.

  4. CIA should work this by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    Want to buy some US "gov and "mil" "data" sets?
    Create nice big fake date sets and see who wants to buy what.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  5. Cheating is considered normal in Asia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/03/20/26D640D400000578-3004353-Relatives_of_those_sitting_exams_inside_a_school_scale_the_walls-a-64_1426863910056.jpg

    So good luck at stopping that.

  6. Affiliate money laundering by macraig · · Score: 1

    Meanwhile, shady "affiliates" continue to launder money for crime lords through the site with impunity, and Amazon does nothing because they're getting a cut. As long as the police don't get involved, Amazon will happily let it slide.

  7. I was supposedly one of those "Bad Actors" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've been posting reviews on Amazon since 2003 as a regular customer. A few weeks ago I'm informed that I can't post reviews any longer and that all of my previous reviews have been removed. The reason, according to Amazon, is that I was somehow benefiting from the reviews or in some kind of collusion with sellers?

    Up yours Amazon. In no way is any of that true and Amazon refuses to prove how they came to this realization. Yes, looks like they are clearing house, but in the wrong location. Probably using "AI" instead of actually investigating it themselves.

    I was tired of giving to the Bezos fund anyway. Amazon has turned into nothing but a Chinese junk clearinghouse. Good riddance.

  8. amazon by hughgrantz · · Score: 0

    Some employees in India and China working as customer support have said that their access to an internal database that allows them to find data about specific product performance or trending keywords has been dramatically limited. gmail sign up

  9. Please report creimer ASAP! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Please report creimer ASAP!

  10. India and China? Never! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As if Indian and Chinese staff would be corrupt and dishonest - say it isn't so!

  11. Code of conduct? What's that anymore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I got a email from Amazon the other day saying my email was compromised but don't worry. I am careful who I do business with on Amazon. Not every merchant is top notch and Amazon has its own problems as we see with its own people. Whether that is because they are disgruntled or their local boss needs better results, or secretly Amazon wants more sales.

  12. Not a Scam by Luthair · · Score: 0

    If the employees are selling internal information from Amazon, no one is being 'scammed' since the buyers are getting what they paid for. Obviously Amazon could complain about industrial espionage or some such but that isn't a scam.

  13. Re:India? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is that from the bad wiring?

  14. yes it is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Look up the definition of scam. These employees schemed to sell Amazon's information and Amazon didn't get a cut. It's a scam on several levels.

    1. Re:yes it is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No it is theft maybe or fraud, not a scam.

    2. Re:yes it is by Luthair · · Score: 1

      a confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, especially for making a quick profit; swindle.